Facebook has a reach of almost 1 billion people monthly, that it itself makes for a pretty wide audience network. That, and the fact that Facebook allows you to target audience specific to your needs makes this a popular platform to share content on.
While there are other ways to promote your blog content, you’ve probably guessed that we’re advocating for Facebook to be the best platform to do exactly that. And we’ll break it down for you.
Let’s first get to WHY Facebook is a great platform to promote your blog.
I) Cost per Click is relatively cheaper.
II) Facebook is easy to use.
III) You can just copy paste the link as a status update, the blog title and image pops up on the Facebook feed, and users who click on it will be redirected to the blog.
IV) Facebook advertising is easy to set up, manage and can be target specific.
Simple as that. Now, we can move on to the ‘HOW’ section. We’re going to cover all the bases on how to use Facebook to drive traffic to your blog.
- Content is Key.
You knew we were going to include this didn’t you? (Or maybe you didn’t, but mostly you did, right?RIGHT?)
Content is King. That statement is inarguable. There’s literally nothing you could say to change that. If you don’t have good content to offer, how can you possibly expect readers to come flocking to your blog?
- Use attractive Images!
No matter what theme your blog runs on, it’s crucial to have high quality, picturesque images up on the blogging site. Make your images prominent and you’re bound to get more traction. According to wishpond’s research, Facebook users engage more with posts that include photos than those without. Use striking photos, and your post will be on track to receive more views, likes and comments.
- Facebook updates should be short and Simple!
Your blog is going to contain enough text, so when you share the link on Facebook advertising, make sure to keep your text update short! Try to go under 140 characters and get creative with them! Facebook is also widely used on the phone, so if you’re going to put up long captions, you might as well say goodbye to viewers beforehand. As much as you would want to hype readers up about the content you’re promoting, the best way to urge them to click is with a short, witty caption, leaving them wanting more! Call it, Facebook Content writing, if you will.
- Did you add the Facebook like button yet or nah?
Lots of bloggers actually skip this step! If your hosting website has plugins to avail, use them already! To be more precise, use the social plugins. This could help create exposure for you on your social media page via your blog!
- Plead for likes before boosting.
All right, so we already know Facebook has great promotion tools. But, they would be more effective if the post already gathered a few likes organically! So, initially, you could turn to friends, family, relatives, whoever is ready to click thumbs up! Once you hit 10-15 likes, go ahead and boost the post. The reasoning behind this is simple, posts with likes are credible!
- Exchanging Money for Exposure
That heading is just a fancy way of saying, ‘paid promotions’. Once you have followed all the steps above and have posted your update on Facebook, paid promotions is a great way to reach out to people who might not be following your page. It is advisable to wait for a while before you promote the post. Let it grow organically and increase the number of likes in any possible way.
Once you are ready to boost your post, simply follow Facebook’s instructions! It’s super user friendly, and it is extremely target specific.
You can even select your objective, whether you would like more engagement or more website visits. Considering we are talking about promoting blog content here, it should probably be the latter. So, take your time, select wisely and you can tailor your audience according to your needs. Facebook allows you to set the age, location and even the hobbies/preferences/likes of the people you’re looking to target.
Apart from setting up the audience, you can add other options like the Facebook button or a Display Message as needed. Once you’ve made all the modifications to your liking, set up a payment method and boost your post!
It’s advisable to start out with a low budget and run it for a short period of time. Two days should be a great trial run, the results of which can be measured and analysed.
- Measuring boosted post Results
When you boost a post on Facebook, you receive measurement statistics from them. However, it is important to note that a boosted post is very different from a Facebook Ad. You don’t have to mess with the ad manager to set up ads for your blog content, you can boost the post from your Facebook page itself. Once the boost is complete, Facebook will reveal its reach.
- From boosted posts to Facebook Ads
Boosting posts is a great way to start promoting your blog content before you move to rough waters and get into Ads.
Facebook Ads, granted, are much better considering the options that are available, but always start out organic, then move to a boost before advertising. But if you’re serious about guiding readers to your blog, ads are definitely something you should try after a boost. For one, ads provide a lot more objectives like traffic, conversions and lead generation. Secondly, you can select ad placements, set up a schedule and it provides really good metrics after the ad has completed its run!
Promoting your blog content is no biggie, and if you’ve read through most of this blog at least, it should be easy with the pointers we’ve put out there. Just remember to provide something of value to your readers and make access easy. Once you have successfully pulled in a reader, they’re more than likely to come back!
Author: Eden Francisca Fernandes